Close-Knit Relationship
by TheOtakuActress
Summary: After a tiring mission, Steve Rodgers wants nothing more than to rest. So it comes as a big surprise when he accidentally comes across Black Widow's hobby; Natasha...knits? Can be pairing or friendship. Bonus chapter is uploaded. I don't own the Avengers.
1. Chapter 1

Close-Knit Relationship

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any of the characters used. I own only the story itself. **

**\*3*/ - Time skip. **

Tired beyond belief, a worn out Captain America made his way through Stark Tower as silently as he could. The super soldier had just completed a mission-well, more like training mission. He was slowly learning the ways of the new world, and Director Fury decided that a little trip to the underground drug world would help him. The mission was successful, but Steve was exhausted. The world had changed so much- frankly, it scared Steve. Children were committing crimes left and right, and the adults-

Steve didn't even want to think about it.

Finally Steve made it to his floor. He wanted nothing more at the moment than to sleep in his comfortable bed. He was grateful that he lived with _the_ Tony Stark- a luxurious bed was nothing more than a small gift for his friends. Walking into his room, he was happy to see a wonderfully inviting bed.

And he was surprised to see Natasha…knitting?

Both of them froze. Neither breathed- they just opted for staring at each other. After the initial shock, Steve looked around the room to see that it was decorated in elegant shades of black and red. Not his ordinary white and blue.

"Is there something I can help you with, Captain?"

Steve was startled for a second, as he had momentary forgotten her presence, but he recovered quickly.

"My apologies, Natasha. I'm very tired tonight, and I didn't recognize that I was on the wrong floor. I'll take my leave," Steve whispered, trying not to sound too tired.

"No, Captain, it's quite alright. I could use the company, plus you look dead on your feet. Sleep here, I certainly wasn't."

Steve hesitated for a moment before deciding to just stay. Natasha looked well-rested, and he was about to pass out. As he trudged along to her bed, he noticed that she never once stopped her knitting- well, expect for a moment when he barged in.

He crawled underneath the blankets, anxiously awaiting sleep. Instead he found himself asking her a question.

"Why knitting?"

Natasha looked up from her work, a bit amazed to see that he hadn't fallen right to sleep. She studied him for a few seconds. There was no trace of mocking amusement. Only weariness and curiosity. Finally, she answered him.

"Why not knitting?"

Steve look surprised for a second, but then he smiled. He bid her goodnight and was out before she could even respond.

**\*3*/**

Over the next couple of weeks, Steve became used to seeing Natasha knit. Sometimes he'd fine a knitting needle all alone and he'd return it to her. They never really spoke about it. Occasionally, they would even sit on the roof of Stark tower, just doing their respective hobbies. Natasha would be knitting and Steve would be drawing. He never asked "why knitting" again, because as the weeks came and went, he eventually learned why.

Every time one of the Avengers would go on a mission, Natasha would knit. She used colors to associate everyone- red for Tony, purple for Clint, green for Bruce, yellow for Thor, and blue for Steve. The captain noticed this after returning from a mission with Iron Man. A blue scarf had been placed innocently on his bed. (Tony told him that he found a red one on his.) When he had thanked Natasha the next day, she just ignored him. On the inside, though, he knew she was pleased.

After about two months of this, Steve asked to learn how to knit from her. The assassin had been rather shocked by his sudden question, but decided to teach him anyway. It took a while for Steve to get the hang of it, though. He had once knitted a "scarf" so badly that Natasha kicked him out of her room. Since then he tried his best to get better.

And better he got. Both of them spent silent hours knitting while their companions were off on dangerous assignments. Steve found that it was… rather soothing. He was still apprehensive about the outside world, so he didn't go out too often. But with his new hobby to occupy his time, he found he didn't mind his lack of a 21st century social life.

A couple of months of silent knitting led to Natasha opening up to Steve and vice versa. She would talk about her missions. He would talk about the war. She would tell him of her worries. He would do his best to give advice. And both of them talked about found that they were completely comfortable with this. It was a pleasant friendship that keep seemed like it would never have difficulties.

Until Natasha's return mission to Budapest.

The mission was a success- by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s eyes. But not to Steve, or any of the Avengers. While there, the enemy forces were defeated and Black Widow had received vital information for S.H.I.E.L.D. and sent it off. She was close to leaving when a series of car bombs set off. Natasha was better off than many of her co-agents- but her hands were another matter.

**\*3*/ **

"Tasha."

Natasha glanced up to see a worn-out Steve. She was mildly shocked to see him already back from his assignment. She wasn't too concerned, though. Ever since she was injured, Steve was by her side constantly.

"Hey cap. What a pleasant surprise-you hardly visit me anymore." Natasha smirked while Steve rolled his eyes in amusement.

"You feeling better?"

Her smiled lowered a tiny bit, but Steve's heart sank. An appointment was scheduled for her earlier that day, and although he had begged to stay, Fury assigned him to a small but tedious mission with Clint.

"What happened?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how both of my boys were away when I needed them."

Steve flinched at the bitter tone of her words, hurt obvious on his face. Tasha immediately felt guilty.

"Steve, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take out my frustrations on you."

Steve nodded, accepting her apology. Periodically Tasha would get an attitude with Steve or the other Avengers. Not that he blamed her- it was taking forever for her hands to heal, and in the meantime she couldn't knit, so she really had nothing to take her mind off her injury.

"I understand, Tasha. Now tell me the truth- what happened today at your appointment?"

Natasha looked down at her hands for a brief second before answering.

"I told you Steve, nothing."

"I don't believe you."

Natasha glared at Steve, annoyed. He just studied her, knowing that she was lying. An uncomfortable silence followed before Steve moved. He kneeled down in front of Tasha, who was sitting on a lavish recliner Tony purchased for her after her return from the hospital. Steve placed his hand on her delicate knee (both of them also injured, but were healing properly.). Steve made sure to be careful with Tasha, not wanting to put her in more pain than she was already in. He gazed up at her, pleading with her to tell him the truth. Quickly her resolve crumbled, and she sighed, more tired than ever.

"He… he said the treatment isn't working-"

Time stood still for him as Steve took in what his best friend was saying. He could hear her saying something, but by then he had stopped listening. He tried to say something, anything, but nothing would come out. Seconds passed before Steve could say anything.

"But… but that can't be- technology is so advanced, medicine should be too! How?! Why aren't you healing?!"

"Steve."

He stopped his rambling and focused on his best friend, who was currently… giggling?

"You didn't hear everything, did you? Listen all the way through, why don't you." Natasha laughed at the Captain's dumbfounded look. He stuttered and blushed, internally cursing himself for jumping to conclusions.

"W-well, what is it?"

"The treatment isn't working _as fast_ as originally thought. I'll need a couple of more weeks of rest before I'm ready to start using my hands again. I don't think it's going to be pretty."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm going to have to learn how to use my hands again."

"What? You don't mean…"

"Yup. Writing and knitting, not to mention training."

Both of them were silent for a small while before Steve spoke up.

"I'll teach you. Don't worry."

Tasha smiled at the super soldier. "With you around, Steve, how could I?"

**\*3*/ **

Time flew by as Natasha fully recovered and Steve helped her to use her hands again. As soon as she was able to legibly write again, she was knitting. It was almost as if the incident had never occurred. Both were glad to have the stress of her injury behind them.

One day Steve walked into Natasha's room to find her knitting. They exchanged smiles, and Steve took his spot on Tasha's bed.

"You know what I just realized?"

Tasha tilted her head in the Captain's direction, although her eyes never left her work and her hands never stopped moving.

"That's the same thing you were knitting when I first stumbled upon your hobby."

Tasha grinned. "So observant, Captain. That's a good skill to have." He laughed at that.

"You're right, Captain; It is the very piece I was working on."

"When should you be finished with it?"

"About right now."

He looked at what she created, curious. It looked like a scarf, though it was longer than normal.

"It's supposed to be long."

Steve glared at her, annoyed that she read him so easily. She laughed at him. "Am I really that easy to read?" he asked.

"Observation skills are good things to have, remember?"

Steve mock-glared at her and they both shared a laugh. Tasha passed him the scarf, and upon inspection he found the reason why it was so long.

Detailed designs dedicated to each Avenger adorned the crafted work. Iron Man's arc reactor, his own shield, Clint's arrows, Thor's hammer, and Bruce's glasses. In the middle was an elaborate blue "A."

"You…made this entire thing…for us?"

She nodded. "I never told you why I started knitting, did I?"

"Well, no but I think I understand why?"

"Is that so? Well, tell it. Let's see what you got."

"You knit whenever one of us is out on a mission."

"Very good, Captain. But that's only one part of it." Interested, Steve nodded for her to continue.

"It was one of my earliest days at S.H.I.E.L.D. I had an assignment, when suddenly it was cancelled. I was asked by another agent to watch over her sickly daughter whey she herself went on an informational retrieval mission. With nothing to do, I accepted. The youngster was in the hospital at headquarters, and when I walked in she was knitting. She was about twelve. I asked her if she wanted to do anything else- you know, video games or other things kids do nowadays. She politely declined, but offered to teach me instead. I accepted. For the entire afternoon, I watched and learned about knitting. It was really enjoyable, and a great break from the stress of missions. She said that it was the only thing she could do when she first became ill, and she was hooked ever since. From that point on I visited whenever I could. Then I began to notice that she would only knit if her mother was away. I just adopted that little tradition."

A couple of silent moments after, Steve had the courage to ask. "What happened to her?"

"Her mom was killed in a mission. By that point, the illness had spread, so I guess the news of her mom was too much for her."

"I…I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. I'm the one who brought it up."

"Why exactly?"

"What?" Natasha asked, confused. She saw that Steve looked heartbroken by her tale. She felt guilty, but he needed to know.

"Why exactly did you mention this?"

Natasha waited a while before answering. "Because I need someone to continue this tradition should something happen to me."

Steve's face went from forlorn to complete shock at her words. "Why would you say that? Are you trying to tell me something? Are you okay? You're not sick or anything-"

"Steve, calm down!"

The captain quickly shut up. Natasha smiled at him, effectively soothing his worries.

"You really have to lose that heartbroken face. You look like a lost puppy." Steve glared at her briefly before she began again. "Nothing is happening. I just wanted to tell my best friend, sheesh."

The man laughed nervously, his heart still racing from his previous panic. He gave her a golden smile.

"Puppy…"

"Quiet, Tasha."

They both laughed for a while at that. Once they had settled down, Steve spoke again.

"Thanks, Tasha. You didn't have to tell me, or show me this."

"You're welcome, Captain. Why wouldn't I?"

They spent a few minutes gazing at the Avengers scarf. Then, Steve had a thought.

"So you've worked on this for a long time, huh?"

"Yes, I did."

"What are you going to do now that this is finished? I mean, wasn't it a major project?"

Tasha made to answer, when she realized that she really didn't know what she was going to do.

"You… you're right. I don't know."

And awkward silence occurred before Steve finally decided to give her a suggestion.

"Want to knit an entire Iron Man suit?"

"What would we do with that?"

"Replace Tony's."

"Let's get to it."

~Fin~


	2. Chapter 2

**Close-Knit Relationship- Bonus Chapter**

_**Due to a few requests asking for a second chapter, I have decided to go ahead and write one! I'm so happy with the reviews and favorites this story has received, and I'm thankful for each and every one of my readers! Without further ado, chapter two!**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any of the characters used. I also do not own Pop Tarts, nor do I own Pixar or any Pixar related movies. I own only the story itself.**

"So, Tasha, how well do you think this is going to work?"

"I have no idea, Captain. But it would probably go smoother if you would kindly get off my foot!" Tasha whispered to him, her words laced with sarcasm and a bit of irritation. The culprit of her pain breathed a quick and sincere apology, and a second later her foot was free.

The man thought back to how they got into their current situation. He, Steve Rodgers, and his best friend Natasha Romanoff were hiding in Tony Stark's closet, currently waiting for the most opportune moment to pull of what was to be the dumbest prank in history.

They were going to replace Iron Man's suit with a knitted copy.

The two had been in his closet for only about thirty minutes. They were waiting for Tony to go to bed, before "borrowing" his special key that he has for his Iron Man suit. Shortly after that, the prank would be complete and Tony wouldn't know what hit him!

Steve giggled silently, thinking about what Tony's face will look like. Tasha smirked a bit although Steve couldn't really see it in the dark. It had taken the pair _months_ to complete the knitted replica of the suit. It was perfect- Natasha used nothing but the best yarn available (some was even imported from different countries!). Steve has worked hard at what Tasha called "Stealth Mood" in order to get up close photos of the suit. Everything about their replica was _perfect_.

The two spent about another twenty minutes in the dark closet before their wait was over. Both of them watched as Bruce half-walked, half-carried a sleepy Tony to his bed. Bruce looked tired and was mumbling lightly.

"….stupid Tony, falling asleep working….."

The hidden avengers silently snickered at the scene before them. Bruce quickly tucked the now dead asleep Tony into his bed and left, but not before giving Tony a fond but exasperated glance. The two "ninjas" in the closet waited exactly five minutes before entering the billionaire's bedroom. Steve was in charge of making sure Tony stayed sleeping ("Tasha, remind me why I need a frying pan? "In case Tony wakes up." "But won't that knock him unconscious?" "That's the point, Steve!") Natasha was in charge of retrieving the key. No time seemed to pass before she had the key- stored in Tony's bedside table. Steve couldn't help but feel proud of his assassin friend- then again, she _was_ a master assassin and spy, so something like this was sure to be a breeze.

After she secured the key, she motioned to Steve to exit. Slowly and quietly the two Avengers made their way out of the room, making sure that they left the room without a trace that they were there.

The two flashed each other mischievous grins- well, more like Natasha did. Steve looked like a little kid who got everything they wanted on Christmas. The two began their journey to Tony's workshop. The walk itself was relatively uneventful. The only thing that happened was that when they passed by Thor's room, he was serenading a Pop Tart. They came to the conclusion that Thor was drunken out-of-his-mind. The clue they found that made this true was a ton of beer bottles in the trash can in his room. They left quickly after that.

Our ninjas finally made it to Tony's workshop. Natasha brought out the key- which looked like a little card?

"Natasha!" Steve whispered, "That's not a key!"

The woman rolled her eyes. Despite being in the 21st century for almost two years, he wasn't quite used to things being different. Tony Stark's inventions were some of those things.

"Steve, this is a key. It just looks like this because it's Tony's invention- honestly it works better than a key. More secure. Now are you coming in or not?"

While Natasha had been talking, she had opened the door to the workshop. Inside were various prototypes of the Iron Man suit that Tony was working on. But in the center of it all was the complete suit- the one Tony relied on for everything.

Now for the prank.

Natasha began to remove the suit with the help of JARVIS (who was in on the little prank) while Steve stood watch at the door with his trusty dusty frying pan. Once the suit was removed, Natasha used one of Tony's robot helpers to get the suit into a secured box. After that was done, the robot went on his mission to take the box to another part of the house- Tony's unused office. The man never did his paperwork, so the office was unoccupied by anything. The perfect place to hide the suit.

As soon as the robot was out of sight, Steve gave his frying pan to Natasha and made a dash to his bedroom where the knitted copy was stashed. It took less time than he anticipated, thanks to the adrenaline and his super-human abilities. He was back in the workshop in no time, the copy secure in his arms.

The copy was a thing of beauty. Made of the finest material, the red and gold shone like the suit it was created after. Even the arc reactor was there- it was created with a thin yarn that naturally glowed a bit in the dark. But after some careful dyeing, it now glowed like Tony's. On the inside was a tiny flashlight, too, just in case. The entire suit was created over a model, and it took a long time to get it to be exactly like Tony's. But now the fruit of their labor was about to be paid off. Tony wouldn't know what hit him.

The copy was carefully placed where the real suit used to be. Once JARVIS confirmed that it was perfect, the two cleaned up around the workshop and left leaving it precisely the way it was before they got there.

The pair laughed all the way up to their floor. After Natasha's injury months earlier, Steve had requested to have a room on the same floor as her until she could recuperate. Natasha was a fit as a fiddle now, but neither one brought up the subject of Steve moving back to his room. So he didn't.

Before they walked into their rooms, Steve stopped Natasha when he thought of something.

"Hey, Tasha?" He asked.

She turned to look at him. "Yeah, Steve?"

"Did you request that JARVIS record Tony finding the suit?"

Natasha smirked at him. "Who do you take me for, Steve? Of course I did!"

The two laughed, imagining the various reactions to their prank. Of course they would have to wait until the "morning" to see it.

That said neither of them sleep at all.

"Good morning, everyone." Steve greeted the team, sans Tony, that morning. He received greets back, though Thor's sounded more like a grunt because of all the Pop Tarts stuffed in his mouth. As he went to make his coffee, Steve winked at Natasha, who winked back.

It was a Saturday, a pretty normal day of the week for the Avengers. Oddly enough, they hardly were assigned anything on Saturdays, unless it was a dire emergency. They all figured it was because Fury didn't want to deal with them on one of the few days off.

They were all almost done with breakfast by the time Tony walked in. Steve and Natasha made sure to keep straight faces the entire time so as to not alert Tony that something was up. On the inside, however, both were cracking up laughing. Their amusement was unnoticed by the other Avengers, especially Tony. The billionaire was only focused on eating his donuts.

The rest of the morning was uneventful. Clint convinced everyone to watch Brave with him in the giant living room. All of the Avengers were present, although Natasha and Steve had trouble paying attention. They were eager for Tony to retreat into his workshop, anxious to see his reaction. They had thought that the movie would have bored Tony to tears, but it turned out to do just the opposite. Who knew the genius had a soft spot for Pixar movies?

As soon as the movie ended, Clint requested that they watch it a second time. Bruce declined, saying it was time for his daily yoga session. While yoga wasn't the key to his Hulk-repressing success, he enjoyed it immensely. Thor wanted to see it again, for it was "valiant and worthy of Asgardian praise!" Steve and Natasha waited to see what Tony was going to say. If he said yes, they would retreat to another room to plan to on how to get Stark to go to his workshop. If not, they would hide as close to the room as possible to see Tony's reaction.

"What say you, Iron Pants?" Clint asked him. Tony seemed to think for a while before he shook his head.

"Nah, I got to do some work down in the shop. Tonight we'll watch Finding Nemo." After that, Tony wandered off to his shop. Clint turned to the last two Avengers. "What about you guys? Gonna stay and watch it again?"

They pretended to think about it a bit before declining. Using the excuse of wanting to go and train, both pranksters headed for the elevator. They didn't even make it there before they heard a loud scream.

"GAHHHHHH!"

All of the Avengers in the room turned to look at each other, two of them genuinely confused, the other two only acting. "What in Odin's beard was that?" Thor asked, holding Mjolnir. The actors quickly decided to jump on the chance to "investigate."

"Sounded like Tony. Tasha and I will check it out, you guys stay here." Steve said in his Captain voice. Before anyone could argue, the two were in the elevator and were going down to Tony's workshop. They giggled the entire time, imagining the various ways Tony's face could have looked that very moment.

The elevator ride was painstakingly slow for the two pranksters, but finally it came to a stop. They had debated whether or not to ask JARVIS how he was but came to the conclusion that finding out for themselves would be sweeter. They walked up to Tony's workshop door and banged it with their fists, trying to get his attention.

"Tony! Are you okay? What happened?" they both asked, their questions overlapping each other. Suddenly the door to room opened and they barged in to see Tony-

Smiling like a maniac?

He turned to them with a giant smile on his face, light tears in his eyes that seemed to be from the laughter that Tony seemed to be suppressing. One glance at their confused faces and Tony was laughing like crazy.

"Do you see this? Someone left me a present! Oh, it's a thing of beauty, let me tell you. I didn't even think it was possible! You see, the yarn knitted together is so solid, so perfect, just absolutely great. It's like a Christmas present, but with more me," Tony rambled.

Understanding dawned on the two. Tony didn't think this was a prank.

He thought it was a _gift_!

They both stared at Tony for a while, who was still smiling. He pointed to the copy with enthusiasm. "What do you guys think? Isn't it great?"

Natasha was the first to compose herself. "Um… Tony, I don't think that's a gift. I mean, who would sneak into your workshop _just_ to leave you this?"

Steve quickly joined in. "Yeah, Tony. The question is why?"

Tony turned to them, smirking. "Oh, I don't know. How about two extremely bored Avengers with way too much time on their hands?"

Both Steve and Natasha froze. They had been caught. Their proof lay right in front of them- Tony was smirking cockily. He had known it was them from the get-go.

"Okay, Tony, you caught us," Natasha sighed in defeat. Meanwhile Steve was trying to figure out how the billionaire had figured them out. They left everything in perfect place, no clues, no anything. So what went wrong?

"Oh yes, I caught you. But don't worry, I'm not mad or anything. Just the opposite. How long did it take you guys to knit this?" he asked.

"A couple of months. We had to get the best material possible, as well as study the way you created your Iron Man suit. Why do you want to know?" Steve answered.

Tony smiled. "For entertainment, of course! Wouldn't it be just grand if Fury was to find on these in his office? Or something else important to him, replaced with a cute knitted copy?"

Natasha and Steve stared at Tony for a few seconds before starting to laugh. Leave it up to tony to create such a crazy scheme.

Of course, they were the first to think of it, so perhaps _they_ were the crazy ones. One thing was for sure as they nodded their approval to Tony.

They would not be bored for _months._

_**That's the end, dear readers! I hope you enjoyed the bonus chapter. Thank you so much to all of my reviewers, favorites and followers. You guys are amazing! I really enjoyed writing this and I will hopefully be able to write another Avengers one soon. Please feel free to review!**_


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